


Spooky October Prompt Collection 2019

by Clytemnestrasrevenge (orphan_account)



Category: VIXX
Genre: Alcohol, Check beginning for Each Prompt and Pairing, Drabble Collection, Fluff, Halloween, Horror, M/M, Monsters, Multi, October Prompt Challenge, Other Additional Pairings to be Added, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Overuse of italics, Smut, Spooky prompts, Vampires, Were-Creatures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-01
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2020-11-08 21:36:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 19
Words: 10,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20842388
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/Clytemnestrasrevenge
Summary: I hate writing ficlets/short stories, so I'm making myself write a ficlet/short story every day this month :)Posting once a day for every day of the month.Pairing, word count, and rating will be at the beginning.Let the spooky season begin~*On Hiatus until I get my shit together**Finished since I didn't get my shit together fast enough lol*





	1. Introduction and Prompt List

Prompt list from: http://historythatneverwas.com/2019/09/27/fun-for-friday-october-2019-writing-prompts/

“Writing prompts come from [ Mab’s Drawlloween Club ](https://www.instagram.com/p/B14IXAbHZnC/) , [ Inktober ](https://inktober.com/rules) , and [ Sari’s Artober ](https://www.deviantart.com/sarispy56/art/Sari-s-Artober-2019-810442847). There’s a little bit of repetition amongst the lists, but for most days, there are three different prompts. So you can use all three, or just pick the one that speaks to you the most!”

*It wouldn't be halloween without character death lol*

October Writing Prompts:

  1. Ring, vampire, amusement park
  2. Mindless, catacombs, poisonous
  3. Bait, bat, old castle
  4. Freeze, candelabra, death
  5. Build, huntress, sunken treasure
  6. Husky, black dog, mechanical monster
  7. Enchanted, yokai, clock
  8. Frail, toad, pharaoh's curse
  9. Swing, coven, dark shadows
  10. Pattern, witch, frogs and toads
  11. Snow, tarot, pleasure island
  12. Dragon, cryptid, spooky library
  13. Ash, chimera, blood moon
  14. Overgrown, laboratory, insomnia
  15. Legend, frankenstein, wrapped up 
  16. Wild, poison plant, sleeping beauty
  17. Ornament, tatzelwurm, sarcophagus 
  18. Misfit, will-o-the-wisp, count dracula
  19. Sling, haunted forest, werewolf
  20. Tread, moon, cold night
  21. Treasure, werewolf, heads rolling
  22. Ghost, siren, cat
  23. Ancient, kelpie, witches spellbook
  24. Dizzy, la llorona, virus
  25. Tasty, creature from the black lagoon, halloween song
  26. Dark, huli jing, creepy doll
  27. Coat, stranger things, cemetery
  28. Ride, alien, mad scientist
  29. Injured, pumpkin guy, cockroaches
  30. Catch, creepy candy, two heads
  31. Ripe, trick or treat (x2)


	2. Amusement Park

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Kenbin  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 900

“This was _such_ a good idea, Kong! I forgot how much fun this place is!” Jaehwan said happily, one hand in the crook of his friends elbow and the other wrapped around a fruit punch flavored snow cone. 

“I told you, we haven’t been here since we were what, sixteen? It’s been ages.”

Jaehwan nodded, peering around the dimly lit walkway of amusement park. It was October, and that meant Halloween. Everything Jaehwans eyes landed on was decorated. Bloody snow cone stand, corn maze next left, ferris wheel of doom straight ahead. There was even a haunted house somewhere deeper in the park. He and Hongbin had worked at it when they were teenagers, dressed as a pair of ghosts and charged to leap out at every poor soul who dared to enter the ‘cursed’ building.

It was a bit juvenile, sure, which was why they had stopped coming. But now, in their old age of twenty five and twenty four respectively, it was nice to get back in touch with one’s inner child. That was the line of reasoning Hongbin had used to get Jaehwan there, anyway, and he hadn’t been wrong. 

“What should we do now?” the younger asked, taking a _bite_ of his own snow cone and making Jaehwan wince. His poor teeth. 

Jaehwan hummed thoughtfully. “Didn’t they used to have a photo booth? We should get a picture!”

“You know I can’t argue if photography’s involved, even if the photographer happens to be a robot.” The younger chuckled as Jaehwan elbowed him in the side. 

They made their way down the path, strolling at a leisurely pace and discussing Halloween plans. There was going to be a horror themed party at the gallery where Hongbin worked, and some of Jaehwans grad school friends were throwing a-

_Crunch_

Jaehwan whipped his head around at the noise. It came from behind them, like a fallen leaf being crushed under a boot. But nobody was there. 

“Did you hear that?”

“Hear what?” 

“Nothing,” Jaehwan mumbled, shrugging. “Anyway, my roommate got the night off so she’s trying to get everyone else together. You should come if your work thing ends early enough! There’s going to be lots of liquor, and that guy you had your eye on last time will probably be-“

_Rustle rustle _

“Did you hear _that?”_ he asked, scanning the path and gripping his friends arm a little tighter. Walking a little faster. 

Hongbin glanced at him, an eyebrow raised. “No... you good?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s just spooky,” Jaehwan replied, dropping his half frozen treat in a trashcan and wiggling his fingers _spookily_ in Hongbin's face. They were slapped away almost at once, but it still served to give Jaehwan back his smile. 

_Hissssss_

Jaehwan didn’t bother asking this time. They had reached the main courtyard of the amusement park and it was full of people. Children dressed in costume approximately four weeks too early, parents half buzzed from the contents of hidden flasks, rowdy teenagers only there to cause trouble. Whatever the noise was, it wouldn’t get them in the middle of a crowd. 

“There!” Hongbin exclaimed, pointing to a black box standing in between a caricature booth and a tent where you could have your palm read. 

He pulled the elder around a pack of tiny superheroes, trashing his own snow cone and fishing his wallet from his back pocket. 

“No! I’m older, I pay!” Jaehwan squeaked, trying to snatch it away, but his friend was already feeding dollar bills into the slot at the photo booths side. “You bought dessert, my treat.”

The elder huffed, but his protests went entirely ignored. He allowed himself to be dragged inside and sat on the hard plastic bench, squinting in the bright lights as his friends arm slid around his shoulders. 

_1..._

Jaehwan threw up a peace sign, snuggling against his friends side.

_2..._

He smiled as wide as he could. 

_3!_

The first picture was captured, faux shutter clicking. Jaehwan puffed out his cheeks for the second one. 

Then, for the third, he made to hold up bunny ears behind his best friend but there was _something_ pressed against his chest. _Something_ curling around the front of his sweater and gripping tighter and tighter and then he was being _dragged._ Dragged away from Hongbin, dragged away from the photo booths offensively bright lights, away from the laughing crowd and the scream died in his throat as _something_ was pressed over his mouth. 

☚~☛

“Jaehwan?!” Hongbin exclaimed, one foot outside the booth and heart hammering. 

His friend had just vanished! Just there one second and _gone_ the next! “What the fuck!” he breathed, snagging the photostrip from the slot and staring down at it in disbelief. 

The first picture, he and his friend both smiling, Jaehwans sunshine smile spread across his face. 

The second, Jaehwan doing that ridiculous pouty-baby thing and Hongbin still smiling, eyes closed on a blink. 

The third, Hongbin with a hand up in the V for victory, but- but Jaehwan. Looking down. A hand, black as death, fingers as long and narrow as spiders legs. Attached to an arm that disappeared out of frame, fisted in Jaehwans lavender sweater. 

And then... the fourth. Hongbin looking to his left, surprise clear on his face, the spot next to him entirely void of Jaehwan. The youngers arm was still held up where his friends shoulders had been mere seconds before. 

_“Jaehwan?!”_

  
  



	3. Mindless, Poisonous, Catacombs

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: ChaSang  
Rating: G  
Word count: 380

_ “Drink” _

Sanghyuk ran. He ran as fast as his admittedly long legs would carry him. Old, well worn tennis shoes slapping against the stone floors, echoing off the stone walls of the maze he was trapped in. Eyes straight ahead, not even bothering to look at the stone ceiling above his head. 

He didn’t know how he’d even gotten there. One moment, he’d been walking down an ally, heading home from work and he’d  _ seen  _ the staircase. He’d seen it and been  _ drawn  _ to it, stumbled down it, but everything had gone black. And then he’d been here, surrounded by skulls and bones and stone in this labyrinth of the dead and Sanghyuk just wanted to _escape._

_ “Drink.” _

The ghostly voice chased after him like the wind. The beautiful man with glowing, honeyed skin and dark brown eyes, holding a goblet full of something that looked like engine oil. The man appeared at the end of every path Sanghyuk chose so he was constantly doubling back, constantly taking random turns to try and confuse the man but he was always right_ there._ Always right where Sanghyuk didn’t want him to be. 

Sanghyuk was lost in fear, lost in the maze. He was trapped in mindless terror and he thought his heart might explode if he kept this up but he ran faster. 

_ “Drink.” _

He took an abrupt left turn, almost tripping over something that looked like a human femur bone embedded in the floor but he kept his footing. 

The way ahead was miraculously clear. Sanghyuk put on a burst of speed, running for all he was worth. There was a faint light at the end of the passageway, daylight? Sunlight? No... it looked too ghostly. There was something  _ wrong _ with it. 

Too late, Sanghyuk tried to stop but the dust of centuries covering the floor made him slip. Sliding on his backside and scratching up the heels of his hands as the man appeared directly in front of him. Barely a breath away. Flowing white shirt shivering around him in a phantom breeze and silver goblet clutched in one delicate hand. 

“What do you want from me?!” Sanghyuk shouted, scrabbling backward in panic. The man matched him, step for step, movement for movement, a poison smile curving up the corner of his blood red lips. 

_ “Drink.” _

  
  
  



	4. Bat, Old Castle

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: N/A  
Rating: Teen (for cursing)  
Word Count: 402
> 
> *IDK if you can tell, but my brain just wasn't having it today. This is supposed to be challenging for me though, so enjoy me projecting my distaste for bats on Wonshik. Its not all that deep lol*

“Oh shit!” Wonshik squeaked, making a much higher pitched sound then he’d ever have admitted his lungs were capable of producing. 

It wasn’t his fault he sounded like a schoolgirl trapped in a helium factory! A bunch of fucking bats had just swooped down at him from the rafters! And it’s not that Wonshik was a  _ coward  _ per say, but he certainly couldn’t be called brave. 

“Fucking bats. I  _ hate _ bats. Stupid winged rats. Rats that bite,” he mumbled, going off on a quiet tangent under his breath. 

He forced himself to move forward,  _ not  _ looking up into the high beamed ceiling.  _ Not  _ looking to the spot he knew more bats would be waiting, dangling upside down by their creepy feet and hugging themselves with their gross wings. Staring at him with beady eyes the color of the blood they probably wanted to drain from Wonshiks veins. 

The carpet beneath his feet was a plush scarlet. It looked like someone had vacuumed recently and cleaned up the  _ bat droppings  _ that should, by all rights, be covering the floor. Weird for a castle so old, Wonshik mused, thinking back to the crumbling parapets and missing chunks in the ramparts. He’d guessed the place had been abandoned when he’d happened upon it. Tired and worn out after getting lost in the woods for the fifty-seventh time. 

“That’ll teach me,” he grumbled, shifting his pack from his left shoulder to his right. “Exercise is good for nothing. All I end up with is sore calves and chilly bones.”

Wonshik peeked around one of the walls into one of the million corredores leading off the huge entry hall. Empty. He didn’t check the ceiling, but the presence of bats seemed almost a guarantee no matter which hallway he chose. “I’d eat one of you for dinner if you weren’t so disgusting.”

The rumbling in his stomach made its presence known, he’d run out of energy bars earlier that morning and his water bottle was drier than the sahara. Even if there wasn’t any food in this spooky castle, Wonshik needed to find a cozy spot to camp out in. Somewhere to roll out his sleeping bag and try and catch some shuteye without being battered by the frigid winter winds. Out in the forest, he’d basically just look like a candy bar still in the rapper to any predator that looked twice. 

“Fucking hiking. Fucking bats.”

  
  
  



	5. Freeze, Candelabra, Death

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Keo  
Rating: Teen (for language)  
Word Count: 602
> 
> Basically it's Taek trying to get Hwan to agree to let him eat his soul it's a mess lol
> 
> I've been having, no joke, the shittiest day lol and it shows. I haven't even proofread this good luck to you <3

“Five chances, love.”

“No!” Jaehwan squeaked, back to the wall, staring in horror at the  _ demon  _ standing before him. 

The  _ demon,  _ because that’s what it was, laughed softly, sending chills shooting up Jaehwans spine. It shook it’s black hair from its feline eyes and licked the tips of its thumb and forefinger, extinguishing the first candle flame with a  _ hiss.  _

“Four chances left.” 

“Are you deaf?! I just fucking said no!” Jaehwan replied. He crossed his arms, forcing a bravado he absolutely did not feel, looking from the demon to the candelabra and back again. He really should know better than to mess around with ouija boards, but who in their right mind would expect a literal demon to pop out and try and eat their soul?!

The demon extinguished another flame. Three remaining. And his bedroom was getting colder too? Like, it dropped at least ten degrees each time the flame went out? Fucking weird... 

“Three chances left.”

Jaehwan shivered again, the hairs on the nape of his neck standing straight up. “No! My soul and my body are a package deal! Go try and trick someone else to find your dinner!”

A smile crossed the demons face as it extinguished the third candle. “Seriously, this wasn’t funny to begin with but now you’re genuinely scaring me!” Jaehwan said, voice shriller than before. He was shaking so hard he thought he might just fall to pieces. 

“Oh good, that’s what I’m going for,” it replied, lazily extinguishing the fourth candle. “Two chances left.”

“You know, this whole thing really doesn’t sit well with me!”

“Well, you won’t have to be uncomfortable much longer, love. One more chance.”

Jaehwan shook his head, fast. His fingers and toes were getting numb. It was so fucking cold he could barely speak around his chattering teeth.  The air was frozen. 

The demon ran the back of its knuckle across Jaehwans cheek. He could see the hunger burning in its dark eyes, almost feel it sparking. See the metaphorical drool on its lips as it thought about devouring his soul. _How_ had a bottle of wine and vintage board game gone so wrong? How had his life brought him to this point?

“One more chance, love. Change your mind and your death won’t be _entirely_ in vain.”

Its finger moved to the final flame, hovering there, waiting for Jaehwan to cave. To just give up. But Lee Jaehwan doesn’t give up! He wouldn’t give this demon the fucking satisfaction. 

“You- you can starve,” he spat, hugging himself, fully aware that he sounded like a petulant bitch and not giving a single fuck. This demon trying to intimidate him- trying to get him to agree, make a deal- not today asshole. 

Jaehwan realized his thought process was getting sluggish from the unnatural cold. Pins and needles up and down his arms and legs. This was so unreal. He was actually dying.  _ Actually dying.  _

The demons dark eyes flashed with irritation. “Don’t be like that, love,” it hummed, the tip of his finger dancing around the candle, teasing. Taunting. Jaehwan aimed a kick at the demon, or tried, but ended up just sliding to the floor. It loomed over him, tall and imposing and corpse pale, smiling as it watched the life begin to leave Jaehwans body. 

“Fuck-fuck you?” 

It was meant to be a statement but came out like a question. What lame last words. 

“Such a shame.” The demon licked the pad of its index finger, then the pad of its thumb. The flame extinguished and a shock rocked through Jaehwans chest. 

“A real, real shame, love.”

  
  



	6. Huntress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *I can only hold back for so long*
> 
> Pairing: Kenvi  
Rating: Mature (for themes and language)  
Word Count: 650

_'The hunter becomes the hunted'_

☚~☛

Jaehwan chased men the way hunters stalked prey. He was well camouflaged, weapons at the ready, eyes sharp and focused. 

“Did you find one yet?” his friend asked, glass clinking as it was set down on the bartop.

“Mm,” Jaehwan hummed, scanning the crowd, the dance floor, the bar. Men everywhere. Well, women too but he wasn’t focused on them. Tall men, short men, skinny men, chubby men, and every kind of man in between. A cute blonde two seats over, a brunette with broad shoulders in the opposite corner, both good looking but not  _ quite _ perfect. Not quite-

“Oh,” he breathed, eyes locked on a  _ man. _ Sitting in the VIP section, Versace button-up half open, sleeves rolled up, hair messy but clearly styled. Glasses, rimless and almost entirely transparent, but Jaehwan guessed they were probably just an accessory rather than worn for functionality. And chains. A fuckton of gold and diamonds, the man was quite literally dripping in money. And Jaehwan loved his men iced out. Target  _ locked.  _

“Don’t wait up,” Jaehwan murmured, shaking his hair out of his eyes and pulling his travel sized lip tint out of his bag. 

“That confident?” 

“Always.”

☚~☛

“You’re not allowed up here,”

Jaehwan didn’t spare a glance for the security human trying to bar his entry into the VIP section, propping a hand on his hip. 

“He,” he said, pointing toward his target, “Is going to buy me a drink, so please move.”

His target must have heard the miniature commotion. He glanced at the down at the bottom of the staircase and Jaehwan smiled. Short and flirtatious, just a little curve at the corner of his mouth. Their eyes locked and his target looked at him for a moment, just watched him, arching a brow that was very obviously groomed. Jaehwan cocked his head, waiting. Watching. 

“Go ahead,” the security human said, once Jaehwan’s target had waved a hand to signal that Jaehwan could pass. “Thanks, sir,” he hummed, patting the guy on the shoulder as he hopped up the stairs. 

Jaehwan walked at a measured speed, not too fast and not too slow. He didn’t want to spook his target. 

“Hi there, handsome,” he said, looking down at his target now, standing beside the couch. Switching their earlier position. In control now. “How about you buy me a drink?”

The man smiled up at Jaehwan, head tilted black, espresso color pleated pants wrinkling around his knees as he shifted in his seat. “Why should I?” his target asked, and  _ god  _ that  _ voice. _

“I’ll make it worth your while.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

☚~☛

“Mm, you smell good baby.”

Jaehwan smiled, running his hands through that carefully mussed hair. He was on his targets lap at this point, straddling his thighs, the taste of Grey Goose Le Melon on his lips. His target, real name Kim Wonshik, music producer and recreational DJ, had his hands resting on Jaehwan’s waist. One of his thumbs was brushing absently up and down along Jaehwan’s hip bone. He had shiny brown eyes, Jaehwan had noticed several hours ago. And  _ gorgeous _ teeth. Jaehwan made a mental note to ask who did his veneers tomorrow morning. 

“H elmut Lang Cuiron,” Jaehwan replied, chuckling softly as his target nuzzled behind his ear. Wonshik was good company, and while one wouldn’t call their conversation  _ intellectual,  _ it was certainly  _ stimulating.  _

“So...”

“Hm?”

Jaehwan’s back arched, just a little, breath catching. “Are you gonna dick me down or what?”

His target laughed, the sound sending chills shooting up Jaehwan’s spine. “Maybe, but first, I’m getting hungry.”

“Oh? Well I think they have a bar menu... we can order horderves or some shit-  _ oh _ jesus...” Jaehwan breathed, head lolling to the side as something sharp pierced the side of his neck. His pulse sped up, blood pounding in his ears and drowning out the club music, the hands on his waist getting significantly tighter. 

“Oh  _ fuck...” _

  
  



	7. Black Dog

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *I understand that this story doesn't represent the actual 'black dog' death omen lore etc, but I was in a cute mood for once. sue me.*
> 
> *Why am I still writing these prompts instead of giving up? I'm a masochist lol*
> 
> Pairing: Hyuken  
Rating: Teen (for language)  
Word Count: 687

“Hey little guy, what are you doing out here all alone?” 

The puppy look up at Sanghyuk, blinking its big brown eyes and cocking its little head. “Are you cold?”

Sanghyuk knelt down and held out a hand, palm up. The little puppy was shivering, half hidden in a bush, leaves stuck in its matted black fur. Where was it’s mom dog? Or owner for that matter? 

“I won’t hurt you, c’mere,” he said, keeping his voice soft and smiling so he wouldn’t scare it. The puppy stepped- or _shuffled_ was probably a more accurate word- toward him, bumping its wet nose against his index finger. 

“That’s good, are you hungry? Want something to eat?”

The puppy tilted its head the other way, big ears flopping and it’s pink tongue sticking out. Sanghyuk grinned and he let it sniff his hand for a minute before gently scooping it up into his arms. 

“God, you’re so chilly, little guy!” 

Sanghyuk unzipped his hoodie and tucked the puppy inside. The poor thing felt almost frozen solid! It yipped, burrowing into Sanghyuks chest as he resettled his backpack on his shoulder. 

The walk home was one of the fastest in the three years since Sanghyuk had moved there. He basically jogged, trying to jostle the puppy as little as possible, moonlight shining off the puddles he dodged along the way.

“Alright, buddy,” Sanghyuk breathed, setting both the black puppy and and his pack on the floor of the living room. It yipped again and- really the only word for it was _hopped_\- around Sanghyuks feet, following him into the small kitchenette. “Let’s try and find you something good. Do puppies like bacon? Actually a hotdog might be better.”

The puppy yipped, bumping its nose against Sanghyuk’s shin. 

“Not like- an actual dog, I'm not feeding you a cousin or something! I think it’s beef!”

Sanghyuk chopped one up into the smallest pieces he could and put them on a little plate, warming a hotdog up for himself as he watched the puppy scarf down its dinner. 

☚~☛

“Okay, comfy?”

The puppy yipped and licked Sanghyuks face. It was curled up between his shoulder and neck, one of its ears tickling Sanghyuk’s chin. 

He’d given the little guy a bath, gotten all the dirt and leaves out of its fur, dried it off with his blow dryer, and set up a small bowl of water on his bedroom floor in case it got thirsty in the middle of the night. And now they were snuggled up in his bed, and Sanghyuk felt happier than he had in months. He’d been canvassing shelters anyway, thinking about adopting. Just a _little_ dog, a friend to come home to everyday. Dogs give people structure, not just companionship. Walks, have to feed them regular meals, make sure they're healthy. Sanghyuk needed something like that, and happening upon this fuzzy black puppy out of nowhere seemed like a sign. He’d put up flyers of course, but he really... _really_ wanted to keep it. 

“Good night, puppy.”

Sanghyuk chuckled, feeling its tongue swipe at his ear. 

☚~☛

“Mm,” Sanghyuk hummed, stretching an arm around the warm body tucked against his chest. He’d slept so well it was almost weird, and the sunlight trying to stab through his eyelids was an incredibly unwelcome-

Sanghyuk sat bolt upright. 

He stared down at the boy curled up in his bed. Thick black hair, larger than average ears, a tiny scratch on his cheek. 

“Hey, who the fuck are you?! How did you get into my apartment?! And what the _fuck_ are you doing in my bed?!” he basically shouted, shaking the intruder awake. 

The boy growled softly, shoving Sanghyuk’s hands away and rolling over. “You let me in, dumbass. And you gave me a shower which was nice of you.”

Sanghyuk blanched, leaping out of his bed. “I did _no_ such fucking thing!”

“Yes, you _did_ actually!” the boy rolled back over, squinting at Sanghyuk through a pair of big brown eyes. “It was the full moon, sorry you don’t recognise me. I thought we were friends.”

  
  



	8. Yokai

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *I don't know what anything is. Literally nothing. Also, this is not an accurate representation of what a yokai is but [THIS](http://yokai.com/tenjoukudari) was what I was referencing. Honestly I just enjoy the image of Hongbin being a spirit in the attic.*
> 
> Pairing: Hyukbin  
Rating: Teen (for language)  
Word Count: 203

“Boo!”

“You crazy mother fucker god _damn_ it!” Sanghyuk shouted, jumping what felt like several hundred feet backward. 

“Got you again, sucker,” Hongbin replied with a laugh that was downright evil. The spirit was hanging upside down, his torso and upper body dangling halfway out of an air vent like a beanie baby stuck in a vacuum nozzle. 

“I think I broke my fucking toe!” 

Sanghyuk was jumping around on one foot, he’d banged the other on the baseboard when the stupid spirit scared him and it _hurt_ like a fucking-

“Consider it me tenderizing the meat for my dinner.”

“You are a _psychopath!” _

The demon just laughed. His big mouth open wide and sharp teeth flashing. “I was literally on my way up to the attic to play a match with you!” Sanghyuk continued, aiming a kick at the spirit. His injured foot passed right through Hongbin's head like it wasn’t even there. 

“The temptation was just too strong to resist,” Hongbin replied, slithering back inside the air vent. Sanghyuk huffed as angrily as he could manage. He was an idiot. And completely certifiable to boot. 

What kind of freak makes friends with the spirit living in their attic?

  
  



	9. Toad

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Haken  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 373

“This will do the trick, child. Your remedy is almost complete.”

Jaehwan stared at the witch, crumpled in an overstuffed armchair covered in darns and patches. His bones ached, hair fell out in clumps, vision sliding in and out of focus without his permission. Modern medicine had failed him. No doctor had been able to figure out what was wrong with him, no matter how many different countries he traveled to or offices he sat in. He was just ‘sick’. He was just doomed. 

So without any other option available to him, Jaehwan had turned to spiritual healing. He’d visited with shamans and healers, monks and medicine men. Journeyed to remote places and stayed in beautiful temples. But none of them had been able to help him either. They all said the same thing. He was  _ cursed.  _ He was  _ possessed.  _

There had only been one more place to look. The occult. Jaehwan had done lots of research and sat through a myriad of phony consultations before he found this witch.  _ The  _ witch. Cha Hakyeon. 

Jaehwan watched the witch lift a toad, still alive, clutched tight between his elegant hands. “Do you have to- do you have to kill it?” he asked hesitantly, not too keen on the idea of murdering a defenseless animal just so he could live. 

Hakyeon glanced at him, a kind smile on his face. “What did you eat for lunch today?”

“A burger?”

“Exactly, child. You ate a fragment of dead cow and you don’t want to kill a toad?”

Jaehwan shifted a bit. “I try not to think about that.”

“Well, the spell requires an offering and I can assure you that this toad has lived a full life. His descendants live on to carry out his legacy,” the witch replied, waving the toad in the direction of a large fish tank. It was full of tadpoles that swam and spun in the clean, green-tinged water. 

“Oh good. Now I know he has a family.”

Hakyeon laughed at Jaehwan’s pout. “This will heal you, I promise. Will you allow me to make this sacrifice on your behalf?”

It took a moment, but Jaehwan finally relented, nodding sadly as he watched Hakyeon drop the poor toad into his cauldron. 

  
  



	10. Swing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Leobin  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 168
> 
> *vixx as kids*

“Come swing with me!”

Taekwoon took Hongbin's hand. His best friend's hand. Allowed himself to be pulled through the packs of other screaming children. Screaming with joy. Screaming with pain. Taekwoon didn’t know. He was only seven. The psychiatrist had told him that his brain wasn’t fully developed. That’s why he could only think in fragments. Only have one slice of thought at a time. 

Hongbin was different. Hongbin felt everything. Saw everything. He explained it to Taekwoon. 

_ ‘That’s not nice, Woonie.’ _

_ ‘Saying that hurts people's feelings, Woonie.’ _

_ ‘You have a good heart, Woonie.’ _

Taekwoon grasped his best friends small hand tight. He didn’t let go even when he sat on the swing. Or when he kicked his legs. Taekwoon swung higher and higher. And higher still. Hongbin's fingers laced with his. 

And higher.

And higher. 

Back and forth. 

Taekwoons hand closed around nothing. Just air. He looked to his right. Hongbin's swing was empty. His best friend vanished. 

“Who’s going to tell me how to feel now?”

  
  



	11. Pattern

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Hyuken  
Rating: M  
Word Count: 651
> 
> *I haven't slept in a while and it shows lol*

  
  


“Did you ever see picture of the Hexagon cloud pattern on Saturn? The ones from the Voyager?”

Jaehwan looked up from his cup of coffee, giving Sanghyuk a knowing smile. “Yes, I have actually. You’ve shown them to me several times,” he replied, setting his mug on the nightstand and burrowing under the covers. Sanghyuk glanced at him, somehow managing to tear his eyes off the mesmerizing photos skimming across his iPad screen. 

“Am I a boring person?”

“No,” his boyfriend replied, poking Sanghyuks thigh under the blanket, “You and your scared geometry fetish are very interesting, my _nerdy_ nerd.”

☚~☛

“Did you know that the three brightest stars in the Orion’s Belt align perfectly with great pyramids of Egypt? And,  _ and  _ the Xi’an pyramids in China?”

“Do these three stars have names?” Jaehwan asked, propping his chin on his hand. 

“Uh,” Sanghyuk mumbled, looking back down at his phone, “Yeah! They do! Zeta, Delta, and Epsilon.”

Jaehwan twirled his fork around his plate of spaghetti. “What theory is this? More geometry?”

“Yeah, but it’s the simulation theory. You know, the world is a hologram and life is a simulation? It’s really interesting actually, seeing how everything links up.”

“Sure is!”

Sanghyuk locked his phone and pocketed it, nudging his boyfriends shin under the table. “I’m sorry, I’ll shut up. Tell me about your day,” he said, but Jaehwan just smiled. “It makes you happy, so I’m happy to listen.”

☚~☛

“Come on baby, come to bed. You need _real_ sleep.”

Jaehwan was tapping his foot on their living room carpet, arms crossed over his narrow chest and sweatshirt slipping off one shoulder. 

“Golden ratio,” Sanghyuk muttered, flipping through the pages of a battered up library book. “It’s in literally _everything.”_

“Baby! You know I don’t mind indulging your hobbies but I  _ do  _ mind when it starts to affect your sleep schedule! You’re a growing boy and you need your rest!”

“I’m twenty three.”

“And the human brain doesn’t stop developing until twenty five!”

Sanghyuk rolled his eyes. This wasn’t a new conversation. “Just go to bed, I’m not tired yet.”

His boyfriend threw his hands in the air and stomped away, but Sanghyuk was too focused on his reading to care. He didn’t even hear their bedroom door slam. 

☚~☛

“Oh, _oh_ baby...”

Sanghyuk stared down at his boyfriend, the straight line of his spine, the shell of his pointy ear, the curve of his pretty lips. 

He fucked into Jaehwan gently, head fuzzy with heat, tingles radiating up from the tips of his toes. Jaehwan had three little freckles on the side of his hip, right under where his waistband of his pants usually rested. 

Sanghyuk traced them with his index finger, rocking his hips forward in time with his boyfriends whines. They looked a bit similar to Orion. Did they match up that way too? If he drew a line from one to the other to the other, would they form the same shape? The same pattern? 

“Ow! Sanghyuk, fuck! Stop!” Jaehwan groaned, pulling away, pushing himself up higher on their mattress. Pulling  _ away.  _ Sanghyuk watched him, unable to focus. He’d zoned out at some point and he was still hard, why did-

“What the fuck?!” 

Jaehwan lay on his stomach and turned half way around, fingers tripping over the red lines on his milky skin. “Did you scratch me? Like... on purpose? I’m bleeding!”

Sanghyuk shook his head, blinking hard. He glanced at his hand. There was a tiny bit of blood on his nail. “Shit sweetie, I’m sorry. I know you don’t like rough, I lost focus for a second.”

His little boyfriend pouted at him. “Lemme clean you up and I’ll suck you off as an apology.”

Jaehwan smiled, accepting the soft kiss Sanghyuk dropped on his cheek. The freckles _did_ line up. Perfectly. The blood didn’t seem like much of a price for sacred geometric _perfection._

  
  



	12. Tarot

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *TW: vague mentions of mental illness but no specifics or description.*
> 
> *It's literally just Hakyeon reading Hongbin's tarot.*
> 
> Pairing: Chabin, past Kenbin  
Rating: Teen  
Word Count: 1062

“So, what are these used for?” Hongbin asked, sitting down at the table across from the psychic. He’d thoroughly researched all the practitioners in a ten mile radius, and finally settled on this one. Cha Hakyeon. Mostly, because Hakyeon seemed like the most normal of the bunch. He wasn’t even wearing a shawl. 

“Oh, you know, spiritual guidance, meditation, divination, even spellwork.”

“So can you see the future?”

Hakyeon smiled softly, forming a circle of alternating pieces of amethyst and clear quartz in a circle around the tabletop. “Tarot cards aren’t going to give you a finite prediction of the future. They serve to add perspective to the past, understanding to the present, and possibilities for the future. Hold this.”

Hongbin took the proffered piece of purple stone and held it tightly in his lap. He didn’t believe in psychics, never had, but he was running very low on options. A desperate man really will try anything. 

“Especially when suffering from past trauma, even when it’s repressed, the cards will shed light on these events. Bring your consciousness to them so you can learn how they affected what’s happening now.”

“So how are we going to do this?” Hongbin asked, glancing suspiciously at the battered deck of cards Hakyeon had set in the center of the circle. 

“Well, that depends on what you want to know? Are you looking for a general reading or would you like to have a specific question answered?”

“A specific question.”

“Alright. You don’t have to say the question aloud, simply picture it in your head, focus on it as your reading progresses. All I need to know is the general subject. Business for example? Money? Love?”

“Love.”

Hakyeon nodded, removing the cards from their pack at setting it to the side with something resembling reverence. “Now, focus on your question, repeat it in your head three times.”

_ Will he ever come back? Will he ever come back? Will he ever come back? _

The psychic began to shuffle the cards and then split the deck in three, picked one section seemingly at random and restacked the deck. He slowly spread them out in a fan. 

“Go ahead. Hover your hand over them and choose the six you feel most drawn to. Focus on your question, your intent.”

Hongbin didn’t feel drawn to any of them, they were just pieces of paper. So he just picked the first six his fingers touched.

Hakyeon arranged them without looking, lined up in a row of two, a row of three, and one at the bottom, spread across the center of the table. Hongbin tried not to dislodge the crystal circle when he retracted his hand.

“Now, the first card represents you. Your current feelings and emotions.”

He flipped it. “Upright, Three of Swords. This is showing me heartbreak, grief even. A very strong emotional pain. Does it sound like we’re going the right direction where your question is concerned?”

Hongbin nodded.

“Good. This second card represents your partner and how they are currently feeling within the context of your relationship.”

Hongbin began worrying his bottom lip between his teeth as Hakyeon flipped the second one. “The Hermit, reversed. I’m seeing a lot of loneliness, isolation.”

Shit, that wasn’t a good sign, but it wasn’t like Hongbin didn’t know that already. Jaehwan had gotten so reserved around him, in the end. Constantly shutting himself away and hiding behind fake smiles and nonsense conversations.

“The third card is the connection card. It represents what you and your partner have in common.” 

_ Nothing. Nothing in common anymore.  _ Once maybe, he and Jaehwan had shared interests. Their art, inability to cook but determination to try anyway, the easy kind of connection that came with being friends for nearly a decade. 

Hakyeon flipped it. “The Seven of Swords, reversed. Interesting.”

“Why is that interesting?”

“Because this card is telling me that what you and your partner have in common is keeping secrets.” 

_ Yeah, no shit. _ He and Jaehwan were always better when they lied to one another.

“Now, the fourth card shows the strengths in your relationship and the fifth will show the weaknesses.” 

Hongbin closed his eyes for a moment as the psychic flipped the fourth card. “The Fool, upright. So, strength in beginnings, possibly a great honeymoon phase? Spontaneous gestures and sweet innocent love?”

“Yes.”

God, he hadn’t thought back on those times in so long. So much had changed between him and Jaehwan. Everything had gone so wrong.

Hakyeon flipped the fifth card. “The High Priestess, reversed. I’m sensing a pattern here, is there lots of secret keeping going on? Important things you never shared with each other?”

“Yes.”

_ Too many secrets to count.  _

“And now, the sixth and final card depicts what needs to be addressed within your relationship. Basically, what course of action you should carry out based on all the previous cards.” 

“Okay.”

Hakyeon flipped the final card. “The Moon, again reversed.” 

“So... what does that mean?”

“Well, this can mean several things. Inner confusion, fear, repressed emotions... if you don’t mind me asking, have you ever suffered from mental illness?” 

“Yes.”

Hakyeon reached across the table and patted Hongbin’s hand. “Would that be one of the secrets being kept from your partner?”

“Yes.”

_ But not anymore. _ Not since he found out, saw the marks on Hongbin’s skin that he always hid under the long sleeves. Jaehwan hadn’t been able to handle it once he found out. He didn’t understand why Hongbin hadn’t just talked to him and he didn’t understand when Hongbin said that talking wouldn’t have been helpful. 

“Then... you need to focus on yourself for now. Focus on finding inner peace and build up your strength. Work on expressing your emotions verbally, because these kinds of burdens are a lot lighter once you release them into the air. Once you start to feel stronger, more content, more sure of yourself, then you can work on becoming the person you want to be for your partner. You know the old phrase, one needs to learn to love themselves before they can love someone else?”

“Yes.”

“Good. The cards are essentially suggesting that you do some self-care. And if I may add my own opinion, journaling and meditation are great tools to help with that, not to mention art and music. Put you on the path to openness.”

  
  
  



	13. Dragon, Spooky Library

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> *I love books, can you tell?*
> 
> Pairing: N/A  
Rating: G  
Word Count: 590

The stacks were dusty, particles of the stuff floating endlessly in the musty air. It smelled like mildew and old paper, which wasn’t a smell Taekwoon particularly _disliked,_ but he would have preferred a less stuffy place to work. 

It was Taekwoon’s first day on the job, and the assistant librarian was roaming from shelf to shelf in the restricted section of the Starlight Foundation’s Center for Literary Studies. This was the place where the antique books were held. Tomes that required restoration and gentle handling, generally not available to the public without an official request. 

Taekwoon _loved_ books. The way that a story could pull the reader from the humdrum routine of daily life and drop them into a whole new world. A new universe, a new time, a new perspective. They were pure escapism. In the words of Lev Grossman, “It didn’t matter where you were, if you were in a room full of books you were at least halfway home.”

A book several feet away caught Taekwoon’s eye. It was on the very top shelf, bound in purple leather, cracked and peeling in spots but intact enough for him to read the words  _ ‘Here Be Dragons’ _ in curly gold italics. 

He went on tiptoe and carefully slid it free, cradling the book in his gloved hands. The words repeated on the cover, but it lacked the name of an author or any other identifying material. 

“You’re an odd one, aren’t you?” he murmured, gingerly flipping it open to the title page. Still, no author. The book felt strangely light as well, it was rather thick and should have weighed at least a pound and a half, but it felt like nine or ten ounces at most. 

Taekwoon continued flipping through pages that should have been full of words, but all were completely blank. It was like someone had made the book but forgotten to write the story. Or like this was a diary someone purchased and then forgot to use. “Curiouser and curiouser.”

As if in a phantom breeze, the pages continued to flip of their own accord. Slowly at first, then faster and faster until the book was nothing but a blur. “What the hell...”

It was like Taekwoon had gotten sucked into a whirlpool. Gravity just changed. The world flipped left then right then upside down and he was pulled off his feet. Yanked forward like an invisible tether had wrapped around his waist and dragged- _dragged_ in between the blank pages of the book he’d since dropped on the library floor. 

Taekwoon squeezed his eyes shut tight, screaming so hard he could feel his throat going hoarse until he made contact with what he foolishly assumed was the ground. Or- it _was_ the ground, just not the ground he’d been standing on before. Soft and spongy, a tree root covered in moss under his stomach and a leaf stuck to his face. 

“What the fuck what the fuck what the- _ah!”_

Fire. An enormous and scalding tongue of fire came out of nowhere, Taekwoon only barely managing to roll out of the way of the burning flames. He lifted his head, still trying to both catch his breath and come to terms with the fact that he’d just _fallen inside of a book._ A pair of big amber eyes met his, slit-pupiled and glowing. The eyes were deeply set into a scaly face, long snout covered in green scales that continued down over the horrifying creature’s neck. 

This  _ wasn’t _ possible. It was just. Not. Possible. 

“Dragon?!”

  
  



	14. Ash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Hyuken?  
Rating: G  
Wordcount: 94
> 
> * Don't even ask where my head is at rn cuz I won't have a good answer *

Ash

A

S

H

Everything

Everything was

Everything was ash

All Sanghyuk Had

All Sanghyuk Had was ash

Ashes

A Shame He thought, looking around the room

He Shed A tear

He Shed A tear at the sight of his everything

All Sanghyuk had

His Sweet Angel

His Sweet Angel reduced to nothing

His Sweet Angel burned to cinders

His Stupid Angel

A Slender Hand

A Silver Heart

A Sandy Head of hair

Harsh Smells All around

Ashes

His everything burned to ashes before his eyes

All Sanghyuk had

_ Gone  _

  
  



	15. Insomnia

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Kenbin  
Rating: M  
Wordcount: 297

Hongbin groaned, dropping his head back against the pillow as he spilled himself down his boyfriend's throat. That sweet sensation of suction pulling the pleasure from his bones like an unstoppable magnet. And Jaehwan wasn’t even really trying. 

The hands he had fisted in the sheets slowly began to unclench. Jaehwan lifted his head, eyes drowsy and head cocked. There was still a dribble of white on the corner of his pretty mouth. Hongbin reached out to wipe it off with the pad of his thumb. 

“Can you sleep now, do you think?” Jaehwan asked, voice the slightest bit hoarse as he flopped down beside Hongbin, squishy body still sleep soft. 

“Yeah, baby, thanks for the help,” Hongbin lied, petting his boyfriends hair and pulling the featherbed back over them both. “My pleasure,” Jaehwan murmured, accepting a gentle peck on the lips. And then he was asleep again. Hongbin envied the ease of his partners slumber. Envied the ease with which Jaehwan could fall into dreamless oblivion.

There was something altogether alien about the night, and insomnia liked nothing better than to point out all the oddities and inconsistencies around him. 

A low rumble of a storm just outside making their window pane shudder and shake. Like someone was knocking faintly against it. Trying to get in. 

Jaehwan’s collection of action figures lined up on a shelf above their dresser casting shadows on the wall. Shadows that curled and stretched until they morphed into claws. Trying to grab him.

The soft light pouring in from the crack under the door, spreading across the floor like licking flames. Just waiting to incinerate him. 

Hongbin lay on the left side of his bed, Jaehwan’s warm body cuddled up against him, sheets cool against his skin. 

Sleepless in terror.

  
  



	16. Legend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: N/A  
Rating: Teen (for language)  
Wordcount: 433

“You’ve _got_ to do it!” Jaehwan said, poking Wonshik repeatedly in the arm and bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. 

Wonshik snorted. “Not happening, I have enough shit going on without inviting bad mojo into my life.”

“Pussy!”

“Don’t be fucking stupid!” Wonshik snapped, shoving Jaehwan off and fixing his hair in the bathroom mirror. Hongbin snickered from outside the bathroom. “You’re _both_ fucking stupid, nothings gonna happen. It’s just a dumb urban legend.”

“Is _not!”_ Jaehwan shrieked. He aimed a kick at Hongbin and missed. 

“Is _too,_ and the fact that you think it’s real just lowers my opinion of you further. I didn’t actually think that was possible, congrats.”

“Hey _fuck_ you! My cousin and I did it a few years ago and I swear to Jesus on the cross that I saw her!”

Hongbin snorted again, somehow filling the sound with more derision than the previous one. “Were you high?” 

“No!”

“Will you both shut up?” Wonshik asked tiredly. He’d been listening to his friends bicker for several hours already and it was starting to give him a headache. “You do it then,” Jaehwan snapped, glaring at Hongbin's reflection in the bathroom mirror. 

“What’s in it for me?”

“I’ll buy you that new murdery cowboy game.”

Hongbin flashed a grin. “Deal.”

“Please? Can we not- _ow!”_ Wonshik began, his plea cut off by Hongbin's jab at his neck. “Pretending to be brave for less than a minute won’t kill you,” he said with a laugh. “Hwannie-hyung, the lights.”

Jaehwan flipped the lightswitch and shut the bathroom door. “Whenever you’re ready,” came the quip, followed by another shriek as Jaehwan got smacked somewhere Wonshik couldn’t see. They were bathed in almost total darkness.

“How do we know that she showed up if we can’t see anything?” Wonshik asked, his eyes slowly adjusting to the dimness. “You’ll see, hurry up Bin.”

Hongbin cleared his throat, affecting an obviously spooky tone. 

“Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary.”

The three waited, standing in absolute stillness. Two seconds... then five... then ten. Nothing happened. 

“I fucking told you, dumbass,” Hongbin snickered, pushing the bathroom door open and slinking away. “I expect my new game on my desk first thing tomorrow morning.”

“You must have done it wrong!” Jaehwan squawked, jogging after him. Wonshik sighed tiredly and followed his two friends.

None of them looked back. They didn’t look back and so none of them saw her, the black-veiled woman with skeletal hands standing in the darkest corner of the bathroom.

None of them looked back, and so none of them saw her _follow. _

  
  



	17. Sleeping Beauty

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Hyuken  
Rating: Teen (themes)  
Wordcount: 1850
> 
> * I love fairytales *  
* Some direct quote from Disney's Sleeping Beauty *

“The prince shall indeed grow in grace and beauty, beloved by all who know him. But, before the sun sets on his sixteenth birthday, he shall prick his finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel and die.”

☚~☛

“My pet, you are my last hope. Circle far and wide. Search for a boy of sixteen with hair of sunshine gold and lips red as a rose. Go, and do not fail me,” Taekwoon crooned, stroking the feathers of the raven perched on his forearm. 

It cawed its ascent, bumping its beak to Taekwoon's palm before taking off out the open palace window. The stupid boy had evaded his clutches for _so_ long, Taekwoon didn’t know what he was going to do with all his freetime after the boy was found. Beauty treatments, certainly. Maybe actually do something with his long black hair for a change. A vacation, perhaps? Self-care. For  _ now, _ though, all that the evil king wanted was for the princeling to die. 

☚~☛

“Jaehwan, come inside! The sun is setting!” Hakyeon squawked from the doorway of their cottage. 

The little prince tried to duck down behind his favorite tree, frowning up at the sparrows flying circles around his head. “Why do they still insist on treating me like a child?! I’m sixteen now!” he huffed. He scuffed the grass with the toe of his soft leather boot. 

“Jaehwan! _Now!”_

Jaehwan winced at the shrillness, regretfully scurrying back to the cottage. They never let him stay out past sunset. His three magical fairy guardians. Hakyeon, Wonshik, and Hongbin. Always so protective. Jaehwan wished he knew why. 

“I’m here, I’m here,” he muttered, trudging dejectedly past his eldest guardian and unlacing his boots. “I had another dream about my prince but I still can’t see his face. Only that I know he’s tall and handsome and he holds me in his strong arms, but then I wake up. I always wake up right before the good part.”

Hakyeon paid no mind to Jaehwan’s grumbling, and why should he? Jaehwan dreamt of the faceless prince almost every time he closed his eyes. “We have a surprise for you!”

“You won’t even let me watch the sunset on my birthday. What could you possibly give me?”

“As you so astutely pointed out, the sun is falling behind the horizon, so it’s officially your birthday. We decided to start the festivities early.”

Wonshik gave the little prince a smile full of understanding. He and Hongbin were standing beside the table, a large birthday cake covered in candles and pink icing displayed proudly in the center. Jaehwan felt his sour mood melt away. He was never able to stay upset for long, and especially not in the presence of sweets. 

The four ate an enjoyable dinner, Jaehwan and Hakyeon talking animatedly the entire time. Wonshik listening quietly, Hongbin interjecting with a sarcastic comment every now and then. It was how dinners in the cottage always went. After clearing away the dishes, his three fairies sang Jaehwan happy birthday and gave him the first slice of cake. Strawberry frosting and a vanilla center. His favorite. 

“Time for gifts!” Hakyeon exclaimed, clapping his hands. A wide wooden box flew out of the closet and into his hand, a pink bow sitting smartly atop it, and he passed it to the little prince with a warm smile. The kind of smile Jaehwan thought a mother might bestow upon her child. He always loved that smile. 

“My gift to you is, as always, beauty,” the eldest said, propping a hand on his slim hips. Jaehwan grinned and stuck the bow on top of his head, lifting the lid with a squeal of delight. A sweater, his favorite shade of camellia pink, swirling creme lace decorating the collar and cuffs. He pulled it over his head, a perfect fit. “Thank you!” he exclaimed, throwing his arms around his eldest fairy and squeezing tight. 

“Music,” Wonshik said simply. His gift wasn’t wrapped, but it didn’t have to be. A song book. Full of melodies and lyrics of the fairy’s own creation and Jaehwan’s breathing stuttered with excitement. He’d spent so many long hours at the piano with Wonshik, writing and singing and playing, and he couldn’t wait to learn these new gifts. 

After he released the middle fairy and his squeals of joy subsided, Hongbin tossed Jaehwan something small and glinting silver. “Protection is my gift,” the youngest fairy said, squinting at the little prince with a serious expression on his handsome face. “What is it?”

“A thimble,” Hongbin replied, nodding at the metal object. It looked like a tiny cup, fit for a mouse. “Put it on your index finger.”

Jaehwan did, feeling metallic chill against his skin for barely a heartbeat before it melted away. “Where’d it go?!”

“So you can't lose it the way you lose everything. My protection is with you always, even if you can't see it.”

The little prince simpered, he and Hakyeon both nearly tackling the youngest fairy, cooing and pinching his cheeks. Wonshik began to laugh as Hongbin spluttered in revulsion at their affections.

☚~☛

Jaehwan woke from a deep sleep several hours later to pecking at his window pane. He sat up, blonde hair in disarray, peering through the darkness. A raven was perched on the sill outside, clicking its beak against the glass. Jaehwan sighed. He blinked the slumber from his eyes and pulled himself from the warmth of his bed. 

“Hello,” he whispered, opening the window so the raven could hop inside. He was friends with all the creatures in the forest, but this bird was unfamiliar. “Are you a birthday gift? A new friend?” he asked quietly, not wanting to wake his guardians as the raven fluttered onto his bedroom floor. 

The raven blinked up at him, the world seemed to stand still for a moment, and then it  _ grew.  _ Stretching upwards, changing, morphing into the shape of a man. A tall man, hair as black as the raven’s feathers and fierce, obsidian eyes. A black cloak around his shoulders that reached all the way to the floor. Tall and handsome and-  _ arms. _

“Are you my mystery prince?!” Jaehwan squeaked in disbelief, watching the miraculous man closely. He didn’t reply. 

“What’s your name?” Jaehwan tried, taking a hesitant step closer. The man fairly  _ towered _ over him. 

“Sanghyuk,” the man replied, blinking down at the little prince with focused curiosity. His voice was almost nasal, but not in a displeasing way. Quite the opposite. For the first time in Jaehwan’s life, words failed him. 

“Hair of sunshine gold,” Sanghyuk murmured, running a large hand through Jaehwan’s hair. The little prince felt frozen solid. “Lips as red as a rose.” A finger trailing slowly across Jaehwan’s bottom lip. “How old are you, my beauty?”

Jaehwan swallowed the ball of nerves that had lodged in his throat. “Six- sixteen. It’s my birthday,” he croaked, eyes going wide as Sanghyuk smiled. A smile as sharp as broken glass. His hands circled Jaehwan’s waist and drew him closer. Closer and closer and closer until his mouth was only a heartbeat from Jaehwans. 

“Happy birthday, my beauty,” he murmured, a mischievous gleam in his eyes, and then his lips were pressed against Jaehwans. A kiss. Soft and warm and _heartbreakingly_ tender. His arms enveloping the little prince exactly how he did in Jaehwan’s dream. 

Jaehwan gasped, the sensation sucking all the breath from his lungs like the wind had been knocked out of him. His fingers were clumsy and stuttering, unsure of what to do, skittering up Sanghyuk’s chest. He held on tight, fisting the front of the man's cloak, entirely unable to tell if this was a dream or not. If his prince was really there or he was still asleep in bed. 

“Come, my beauty. Let’s explore.” Jaehwan blinked in surprise. His brain had gone a bit fuzzy, warm pleasure pooling in the pit of his stomach, but he didn’t let go. Sanghyuk didn’t release him either, smiling as he walked silently backwards and lead Jaehwan out of his bedroom. Onto the landing and up the stairs to the attic, laying a series of gentle kisses to the little princes lips to silence his questions. 

“I’m... not allowed... up here,” Jaehwan managed, forming the words against Sanghyuk’s mouth as the man quietly opened the door to Hakyeon’s sewing room. “Why not, my beauty?”

“Well,” Jaehwan whispered, the door shutting behind them with a soft click, “I can’t go anywhere near the spinning wheel. Hakyeon says I’ll hurt myself.”

Sanghyuk’s hands settled on Jaehwan’s hips, his chest against Jaehwan’s back, lips on the nape of Jaehwan’s neck. “Aren’t you curious though? Haven't you ever thought about spinning? After all, you’re sixteen now, my beauty. What harm could a silly wheel do to you?”

Jaehwan’s eyelids flutter, the heat of Sanghyuk’s mouth tracing a path along his jaw, down the side of his neck. He _was_ practically a grown up now. He was sixteen whole years old! A full-fledged man! It was just a spinning wheel, and Hakyeon was known for his occasional hysterics. Sanghyuk was right. 

“It can be our little secret, my beauty. I’ll help you if you’d like.” Jaehwan nodded slowly, reluctant to more away from the man’s tender ministrations but he did have to. Sanghyuk guided him forward, an arm around Jaehwan’s middle and his large palm against the back of Jaehwan’s hand. They stood together before the wheel. Sanghyuk murmuring about how smart Jaehwan was, how strong he was, how beautiful he was, as their joined hands extended towards the needle. 

A wave of wrongness suddenly jolted through the little prince. Something wasn’t right here. “Wait- I don’t think I should be-”

A prick against the tip of his index finger, a sharp sting of pain, the sweetness of Sanghyuk’s kisses turning to ash on his tongue. He was immediately overwhelmed with dizziness, a tiredness that was bone-deep turning his limbs to lead. 

“Sleep well, my beauty. May your eternal rest be fitful,” Sanghyuk whispered, lowering the little prince to the sewing room floor and pressing a final kiss to his forehead. Jaehwan struggled to keep his eyes open. He watched, lids feeling as though they were made of concrete and unable to speak as the man crossed to the window and leapt off the sill, transforming back into a raven and flying away with a mirthful caw. 

_ ‘Help!’  _ Jaehwan tried to say, but he was already succumbing to the enchanted sleep weaving its coils around him. 

“A most gratifying day. For the first time in sixteen years, I shall sleep well.” The voice spoke in the back of Jaehwan’s mind, forign and unknown and _very_ far away. 

The last thing he remembered before the world went black was a throbbing pain in his index finger. The needle had done its evil work, sending him careening headfirst into darkness. Not the darkness of death, however, not with the invisible thimble on his finger like a magical shield. Not the full effect of the spell.

Not into the emptiness of death, but into the waiting arms of sleep. 

  
  



	18. Ornament

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pairing: Wontaek  
Rating: Teen  
Wordcount: 245

“I was at that weird antique store again today-”

“Let me stop you right there,” Taekwoon said, holding up a hand in Wonshik’s face. His boyfriend's mouth snapped shut. “Just tell me what you bought.”

Wonshik grinned. “You know I can never resist seeing you in pretty things,” he replied, pulling a short necklace from his pocket. It was a fine silver chain, the approximate length of a choker, a small diamond bauble hanging from the center. 

“It looks like a christmas ornament, he muttered, hiding his delight under a customary scowl. Wonshik knew him too well for such a tactic to work though. He chuckled, reaching up and securing the chain around Taekwoon’s neck. 

Taekwoon coughed lightly. “It’s- it’s a bit tight,” he breathed, tugging at the pendant. “The woman who sold it to me said it was cursed.” Taekwoon swatted Wonshik’s arm with a hiss. “Why would you buy me something cursed?!”

“You like creepy shit! And there’s no such thing as curses,” Wonshik replied, stepping back to admire his work. Taekwoon squinted, but his boyfriend wasn’t wrong. “Still, it’s tight,” he grumbled. Tighter than a moment ago? But no. That wasn’t possible. 

So Taekwoon kept the choker on, paying no attention to the chain that was slowly strangling him. What was the old adage?  If you put a frog in boiling water it will hop out, but if you gradually increase the temperature of the water it will let itself be boiled. 

  
  



	19. Dracula

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I know it's not halloween anymore but I wanted to write about vampires. sue me. 
> 
> Sequel to [This](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20842388/chapters/49619855)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Implied Kenvi
> 
> unbeta'd

“Hello there, pretty love.”

Wonshik whipped his head around, staring up at the ceiling for any sign of the speaker. Just more bats. But their creepy little eyes were open now. Beady and blood red. Staring down at him with a still sort of alertness that set Wonshik’s teeth on edge. 

“I do not remember inviting a guest into my home.”

Wonshik turned a full circle, rooted to the crimson carpet, not wanting to step even an inch from that spot. Nobody was their. Nobody was talking. Was he hearing things?

“Did you wander in, pretty love? A little lamb lost in the forest? All alone?”

Okay, someone was definitely talking to him. There was no way his brain could conjure a voice that lyrical all on its own. “What do you want?” he called, addressing the closest tapestry hanging on the stone walls for lack of any better option. Maybe it was a ghost. The castle was old enough and certainly creepy enough to have a ghost infestation. 

“Just what I asked, pretty, to know why you are in my home.”

Wonshik swallowed  _ very _ hard, trying to tamp down his rising fear. “I was hiking and got turned around. Where are you, I can see you?”

Something made the hairs on the back of Wonshik’s neck stand and he froze. Not wanting to turn around. Not daring to see what grusom apparition was standing behind him. It was something bad, he could tell that much already. 

“I’m right here, pretty love. Face me.”

“No thanks, I’m good right where I am.”

“You’re being rather rude, you know, trespassing in my home and not even giving me the courtesy to look me in the eye.”

Wonshik was overcome with certainty just then. He really, really shouldn’t turn around. “I’ll just get going, didn’t mean to bother you, sorry,” he managed, taking a single step forward before abruptly freezing again. Something like a claw hand curled around his shoulder. He didn’t look at it, couldn’t, wouldn’t. Even so he could feel its talons- or were they nails- digging into his deltoid. Not hard, but not gentle either. Just enough to let Wonshik know that further movement would unadvisable. 

“Would you prefer me to look at you instead?”

That voice. It was both horribly familiar and horribly alien at the same time. Was it really his imagination? The voice may be but the hand certainly wasn’t. Cold as ice and sharp as thorns. “What are you?” Wonshik asked, squeezing his eyes shut as he felt the nightmare this shift around. It was standing in front of him now. “Are you a demon? Or a ghost?”

The thing laughed, a high, clear sound, free of any sinister note it had previously possessed. Wonshik knew that laugh. He’d known that laugh his entire life. That laugh was the whole reason he came into this gods damned forest every weekend for the past seven years. His little Hwannie had gotten lost out here, had gone exploring without him one day and never came home. That was Hwannie’s laugh. 

“You could call me a ghost if you’d like, but I think your people have another name for my kind.”

Wonshik opened his eyes, terror flooding him faster and stronger than it ever had before. It was him, it was Jaehwan, but it  _ very much wasn’t.  _ The thing wearing Jaehwan’s face was taller than Wonshik remembered. Lips a darker red and iris’ to match. He was thinner too, his limbs look just that bit too long. And his fingers-

“Your people call me Vampyre, pretty love.”

  
  


**Author's Note:**

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